Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Foo Fighters. Driving. Writing. Girls. Etc.

A little while back, I was texting my friend Celia Laverty and asked her to choose between a couple bands. She chose Foo Fighters. I then told her that the next "Top 25" blog I did would be about them. "Hey, Chris, didn't you mention in a previous blog that you were talking to a girl and kind of liked her?" Huh? What? Anyway...I started working on that list tonight. Which really just means I wrote down Foo Fighters songs. I just wrote down songs of theirs that I really liked. I have 31 on my list and will narrow that down to 25 and then loosely rank them. And then write a little about each one.People seem to like the concept. Below are links to the previous ones I've done:Top 25 Beatles SongsTop 25 Led Zeppelin Songs (sort of)Top 25 Red Hot Chili Peppers SongsUntil I'm done with that, above is a video of a 2-hour Foo Fighters concert. It was recorded right around the time of their 2011 album "Wasting Light" and the first 50-ish minutes are spent just playing their new songs. Then they start talking to the audience and playing all of their bigger hits.If you have 2 hours to kill, give it a listen. Their performance of "Stacked Actors" is especially good.* * *What else is going on in my life? I got my driver's license back about a month ago. Why did I lose my license in the first place, you ask? Because I was an innocent man set up by the police. Either that, or they caught me driving drunk. I was feeling pretty buzzed when I got arrested; I don't remember all of the details.That's a lie, I remember most of the details. Click here to read about the night I got arrested if you haven't already done so. And if you haven't, then shame on you.I had to retake both the written and driving tests. I had to have my mom drive my car to the DMV so that I could drive it. The written test is actually more of a "touch-screen computer" test. I had to get 19 right out of a possible 25. I had 50 minutes to complete everything. I finished in 6. There's a joke there. But I won't make it.When you're a teenager and do all of this, you get your learner's permit and have it for a month before you take your driving test. If you have previously had your license, you can do both on the same day.I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it, but it's the rule. I passed my written test. Then I stood in line for 15 minutes. Then I went and got my picture taken for a learner's permit. Then I waited 5 minutes for it to print. Then I took my learner's permit over to another line and signed up to take my driving test.The lady in charge of my test asked if I had driven before. After saying yes, she responded, "Oh, good. That means you won't be scared or anything." You get three tries to parallel park. I needed all three. As I was driving down the road, I was talking to the driving lady. I then noticed that I was talking with my hands, which meant I wasn't keeping them on the wheel. So, I glued my hands to "10 and 2" and didn't move them.We drove down a road. "Did you see that sign?" she said to me. I did and told her what it was. A few minutes later. "Did you see that sign?" I awkwardly said, "Ummm. No. I did not." After that, I pointed out every sign we passed. She had a good sense of humor and laughed about it.Then I had to wait in line for another 15 minutes. They took my learner's permit that I had for approximately half an hour and threw it away, then I took a picture for my actual license.The lady I was talking to about all of my paperwork after I finished my driving test had to call somebody about my stuff. I could only hear her end of the conversation, and I'm pretty sure the person on the other line made a stupid "Christian Slater" joke. Here's how it went:She said some numbers to the guy. "No, it's not him." Pause while other person says something. "Haha yeah, I wish."At least it wasn't a "Saved By The Bell" joke.* * *Q&A time! "What's going on with your second book? It should have been done two months ago. Why are you so lazy?"Wow. That's harsh. Book number 01 was a learning experience. I figured out the general idea of putting words together and assembling them into a (digital) book format. So, for book number 02, I wanted to use that information I learned and expand upon it.I wanted the new book to be bigger and better than volume 01. And, so I had some ideas. I explored those ideas and tried to make them happen. And it didn't work. So, I'm still figuring out what to do with that.But, it will be done eventually. Don't worry, soon enough you'll be able to not buy it when it's released and then clamor for it when it's free for a week.Next question. "What's going on with the 6-part 'Adventures in DUI Class' articles?"See above. Partial laziness. But, also, it's been hard to mentally revisit that time of my life. I was going to DUI classes for 6 weeks and taking notes, thinking that it would be something awesome to write about. I started the writing process as the classes were ongoing. Then I took some time off from it. And now, it's hard to get my head back into that part of my life. I wasn't very happy when I had to do all of that, and now that I can drive and am feeling happier I don't really like drudging it back up.But, we'll get there. Any other questions?"What's up with you and Celia?"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. We're out of time.